Friday, March 29, 2013

APRIL 16, 1854 – BIRTH OF JACOB COXEY, OHIO BUSINESSMAN

1854 – BIRTH OF JACOB COXEY, OHIO BUSINESSMAN
Jacob Coxey, a businessman from Massillon, Ohio organized a 500-strong
“Coxey’s Army” march beginning on March 25, 1894 from Massillon to
Washington, D.C. (ending April 30) to promote federal intervention for
job creation. The primary demand of this "petition in boots" was unique
-- the direct printing and issuance of $500 million by the Federal
Treasury to employ 4 million people. Coxey's Army proposed two bills.
The first, a "Good Roads Bill," would help farmers with $500 million
issued by the federal government in legal tender notes, or greenbacks,
to construct rural roads. The second, a noninterest-bearing bonds bill,
would empower state and local governments to issue noninterest-bearing
bonds to be used to borrow legal tender notes from the federal treasury.
This money would be used to build urban libraries, schools, utility
plants and marketplaces. Millions of jobs would have been created --
debt-free.